As an incentive to sign up for Web Development classes through the University of Iowa’s Dev/Iowa program this fall a limited number of registrants will receive $25 passes to Startup Weekend Iowa City, an intense pitch development event taking place Oct. 3-5.

Dev/Iowa is offering five weeklong classes this fall, including HTML/CSS, Beginning JavaScript, Advanced JavaScript, Node.js, and MYSQL/PHP, as well as five weekend workshops on AngularJS, MongoDB/NOSQL, Introduction to JavaScript, Introduction to Python, and Introduction to Ruby on Rails.

The courses include introductory courses for people wanting to get started in web development as well as advanced classes for people with programming experience who want to expand their skillset. AngularJS and MongoDB are particularly well suited to the rapid development that takes place in Startup Weekends.

“The local startup community is bustling, but it’s faced with a shortage of technical talent,” says Andrea Flemming, one of the coordinators for the program. “Dev/Iowa's web development courses target the skills required to meet these companies' needs.”

Weeklong classes are $600 each and take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Weekend classes are $200 each and take place 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

All classes are open to the public. To register, or for more information, visit deviowa.com/ or contact Andrea Flemming at deviowa@uiowa.edu.

Startup Weekend is a global, nonprofit “movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures.” Headquartered in Seattle, it holds events in more than 200 cities around the world, bringing people together for weekend-long workshops to pitch ideas, form teams, and start companies.

At Startup Weekend Iowa City, which is not affiliated with the UI, anyone is welcome to pitch a startup idea and get feedback from peers. Then teams form around the top ideas (determined by popular vote) and a “54-hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation” takes place. Weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders who provide critical feedback.

Regardless whether a team continues with an idea after the weekend, Startup Weekend Iowa City organizer David Tominsky says the experience provides a vast array of opportunities.

“Educational events, mentoring relationships, and connecting you with a global network are all a part of what you can expect post-Startup Weekend,” Tominsky says.

“The strong technical skills are always in demand, but the ability to communicate why certain technologies are better than others, working through the process of truly understanding what customers want and will pay for before you build something, and making meaningful connections with people are all on the list of things a developer can expect to get out of the experience,” he adds.

For more information on Startup Weekend Iowa City, visit iowacity.startupweekend.org/ or contact Tominsky at david.tominsky@gmail.com.

Dev/Iowa is part of the University of Iowa Office of Research and Economic Development’s UIPartners program, which provides support, resources, and expertise to Iowa small businesses. One service UIPartners offers is a free IT assessment. Following the assessment, companies can contract with UIPartners to receive high quality IT and Web support, which is provided by skilled students and professionals.

Dev/Iowa is an IT and Web training component of UIPartners, offering fee-based courses throughout the year, including a nine-week IT Bootcamp each summer. For more information about Dev/Iowa, visit deviowa.com/ or contact Andrea Flemming at deviowa@uiowa.edu.